Canberra, 07 November 2018, Media Release by the Minister of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development – The final link in the Pacific Highway upgrade is in its peak construction period, with more than 3,300 jobs being delivered to finish the final stage of the project.

Deputy Prime Minister, Nationals’ Leader and Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development Michael McCormack said the Australian Government had committed over $3.4 billion to the major project.

“This is a big milestone for the Pacific Highway upgrade and it is worth noting that 26 kilometres of new highway has already been opened between Woolgoolga and Glenugie with major work underway on the remaining sections of the 155-kilometre corridor,” Mr McCormack said.

“We are already seeing significant results as fatal crashes have halved, down from more than 40 each year to about 20 annually in recent years.”

NSW Minister for Roads, Maritime and Freight Melinda Pavey said it was phenomenal that Australia’s largest concrete paving project, requiring more than 750,000 of cubic metres of concrete, had reached just over the half way mark.

“This is a big milestone for the project, being the largest single upgrade in the 20 year history of the Pacific Highway duplication program,” Mrs Pavey said.

“When it opens to traffic in 2020, this 155-kilometre section will help to save lives, improve travel times, and contribute to regional growth, job creation and efficiencies in freight movements due to shorter travel times.”

Federal Member for Page Kevin Hogan said a draft directional signage plan, now complete and available to view online, addressed key issues raised by the community.

“We plan to review the renaming of the existing highway and the proposed changes to signage for towns off the highway,” Mr Hogan said.

“There is still a lot more work to go, but we’re getting closer to providing a safer and more reliable highway from Hexham to the Queensland border and we thank the community for its patience.”

NSW Member for Clarence Chris Gulaptis said that this project was more than just about bricks and mortar, delivering more than 3,3000 direct jobs.

“The Liberals and Nationals are focused on not only building the roads but also building the skills of the local community. This means that local people can be part of delivering this incredible infrastructure project, leaving a long term positive legacy.”

The Australian and NSW governments are jointly funding the Pacific Highway—Woolgoolga to Ballina upgrade.

More than 80 per cent of the $5.64 billion duplication of the Pacific Highway between Hexham and the Queensland border is complete.

Peace Through Tourism

How Travel & Tourism Can Help Restore the Balance in the Emerging New World Order

"The travel & tourism buzzword of the 21st century will be the search for balance."

That forecast was made by Imtiaz Muqbil, Executive Editor, Travel Impact Newswire, in the monthly strategic intelligence publication of PATA, the Pacific Asia Travel Association, way back in February 1999. Today, it is proving spot-on as the word "balance" resonates across all industry sectors.

Travel industry conferences seeking a speaker who can offer some unique historical hindsight, unconventional foresight and thought-provoking insight on how to rebuild and restore the balance in Asia Pacific travel & tourism can email Imtiaz Muqbil by clicking here.

There Can Be No Sustainability Without Spirituality

The New World Order will be dominated by a resurgence of spirituality.

Imtiaz Muqbil claims to be the world's only travel journalist to have visited the Holy Spots of all the major world religions -- Lumbhini, Bodhgaya, Varanasi, Nalanda, Jerusalem, Vatican City, Amritsar, Makkah, Madinah, Najaf and Karbala, as well as religious spots such as Angkor Wat, Bagan, Shwedagon Pagoda, Temple of the Emerald Buddha, Temple of The Tooth, Somnath Temple, Samarkand, Bukhara and many other great mosques, shrines, temples and cathedrals worldwide.

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Secrets of Thailand's Tourism Success

Why the Amazing Kingdom is notching up record-breaking arrivals, and what challenges it faces next

The Thai tourism industry has become by far the Kingdom's most successful service sector, one of its leading job-creators and foreign exchange-earners. Behind this success lies a fascinating history of great branding campaigns, policy and regulatory changes, budgetary bunfights, strategic thinking and influence of Royal events.

But this success has now bred a new set of management challenges that may be more difficult to overcome.

Travel Impact Newswire Executive Editor Imtiaz Muqbil has been monitoring the pulse of the Thai travel industry full-time since 1981. Industry conferences and management meetings wishing to benefit from a treasure trove of insights and hindsights on one of the world's great tourism success stories can drop an email here: imtiaz@travel-impact-newswire.com.

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The Rise of the Whistle-Blowers

For 15 years (January 1997-July 2012), Imtiaz Muqbil penned a hard-hitting fortnightly column called “Soul-Searching” in the so-called “newspaper you can trust”. In July 2012, the column was gagged, with no explanation.

Over the years, four columns had explicitly forecast the rise of whistle-blowers -- a prediction now coming 100% true. Read the four columns by clicking on the links below.

Too Bad Your Ad Is Not in This Spot

Space available for unique ads that demonstrate commitment to helping physically-challenged people, building global peace, improving social and cultural cohesion, providing opportunities for the under-privileged, alleviating poverty and combatting global injustice & corruption.

If your product is not meeting any of the above goals, please advertise elsewhere.

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News Vs Noise

A Unique Course for Travel & Tourism Communicators In The Internet Era

By far the vast majority of media communications in the travel industry is boring, banal and bland. The same way it has been for the last 30 years.

Travel Impact Newswire Executive Editor Imtiaz Muqbil has designed a special communications course to help upgrade both the context and the content of industry media material, and make it more interesting, readable and, most important, relevant.